Bengaluru: The counting of votes for Karnataka Assembly elections is underway, and based on the early trends, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading on 116 seats while Congress is leading on 63 seats. The third key player, Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) is leading on 42 seats, while others are leading on one seat.

Counting of votes began at 8 a.m. for 221 out of 224 assembly constituencies in 58,546 polling stations in the state. The elections in two constituencies, Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar, both in Bengaluru have been postponed earlier. A total of 2,654 candidates, including 216 women candidates were in the fray for the Assembly Elections this year.

The polling percentage in the May 12 elections has been put at 72.13 per cent. It would be clear post noon whether the voters in Karnataka have given their verdict decisively as being claimed by the political parties, or for a hung assembly as projected by a majority of the post-poll surveys. The counting began today at 38 counting centres across the state, amid high security. In case of a clear verdict in favour of the Congress, the grand old party will have broken the jinx of no political party retaining the reins of the state since 1985, when the erstwhile Janata Dal formed the government under Ramakrishna Hegde for a second consecutive term.

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I thank my sisters & brothers of Karnataka for steadfastly supporting BJP’s development agenda & making BJP the single largest party in the state. I salute stupendous work of BJP #Karnataka Karyakartas who toiled round the clock & worked for the party, tweets PM Modi (file pic) pic.twitter.com/g29pjyyLn2

I thank the people of Karnataka for giving this mandate to the Bhartiya Janata Party. Congress is trying to come to power through back door, people will not tolerate this: BS Yeddyurappa #KarnatakaResultspic.twitter.com/zTJCXz6qxu

JD(S) had always maintained that HD Kumaraswamy will be CM. As per results, we’re doing everything to keep BJP out of power. Congress has extended its support, we have accepted it. We will jointly go to meet Governor after 5.30 pm today: Danish Ali, JD(S) #KarnatakaElections2018pic.twitter.com/qCfgOhGM9t

People have rejected Siddaramaiah. He lost because of his attitude, because of attacking everyone & because of his loose talk: GT Devegowda, JD(S) candidate who is leading over Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari by 17000 votes. pic.twitter.com/6Sw82tiBgs

Now, the people of #Karnataka will witness what Good Governance actually is. Congratulations to BJP Karyakartas for their tireless journey under the impeccable vision of our Hon’ble PM, @narendramodi ji.

To all the supporters, volunteers, workers, everyone out there, we as #TeamCongress fought an earnest energised campaign. Thank you so much. The fight is on. Remember, the battle for the soul of India is never-ending. Win-loss is episodic, the fight for truth is perennial.

I would like to thank the people of Karnataka for this mandate. Also, credit goes to the hard work of PM Modi and Amit Shah ji, as well as state leadership,party workers and RSS cadre. BJP’s southward march has begun: Ram Madhav,BJP #KarnatakaElections2018pic.twitter.com/Hxw7eEoDPf

Rahul Gandhi did his best, but it is we who have lost the elections. We, the local leadership, should have en-cashed it in a proper way & because of which we lost it: DK Shivkumar, Karnataka Minister on #KarnatakaElections2018pic.twitter.com/mTUCbrfO0V

People of Karnataka want good governance, that is why they have chosen BJP. This is a big victory for the party. Congress is losing state after state & we are winning state after state: Prakash Javadekar, BJP Karnataka in-charge pic.twitter.com/ifgr278QRe

Senior party leaders will decide on this, but we are confident and hope to form Government on our own: Dr.Yathindra,Congress candidate from Varuna and son of CM Siddaramaiah on possibility of post poll alliance with JDS #KarnatakaElections2018pic.twitter.com/ghTqoSDYf6